Parliament has extended its sitting for an additional one week to enable it to conduct more unfinished business.
The House was scheduled to rise last Friday, but the Deputy Majority Leader, Mr Alfred Agbesi, told the House that "due to the volume of outstanding business in Parliament, the House is unable to rise sine die “today, Friday, July 29, 2016."
Mr Agbesi, who was presenting explanatory memorandum on the business statement, said: "The House is, however, expected to adjourn sine die on Friday, August 5, 2016."
Debate on extension
Some Members of Parliament (MPs) raised concerns about the extension.
The MP for Old Tafo, Dr Anthony Akoto Osei, said the extension would be costly for him, because he would not be able to go to his constituency.
He requested that there should be a middle way out.
The MP for Atwima Mponua, Mr Isaac Asiamah, expressed worry that whenever Parliament was going to rise, the executive loaded it with a lot of work.
He said "the last minutes loading" was not the best for MPs to ensure proper oversight.
The MP for Manhyia South, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, said instead of sitting on Monday, MPs should be made to come back on Tuesday or Wednesday so that they could use the weekend to visit their respective constituencies, but the MP for Zebila, Mr Cletus Avoka, said some of them had their constituencies far away and it was, therefore, proper for the House to be made to sit throughout next week.
Thereafter, he said, the MPs could have about two or three weeks’ break.
The MP for Adaklu, Mr Kwame Agbodza, said they had up to January 6 to sit and transact business.
Therefore, he said, the extension of the sitting was in the right direction.
Speaker of Parliament
The Speaker of Parliament, Mr Edward Doe Adjaho, said members had the right to express their opinions on the extension.
That, he said, was because at the beginning of the sitting, members were made aware of the date that the House would rise.
Mr Adjaho said he would engage with the leadership of Parliament to identify the critical work and focus on them so that the house could rise earlier than the Friday.
"If we are able to finish them on good time, we will be able to rise before the Friday," he said.
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